Monthly Archives: August 2015

Those who don’t have English as a first language, or even younger readers, may be unaware of the background of a particular cliché that they may have heard but don’t understand today.

Selling, carrying, bringing, or taking coal(s) to Newcastle is an idiom of British origin describing a foolhardy or pointless action.[1]

It refers to the fact that historically, the economy of Newcastle upon Tyne in north-eastern England was heavily dependent on the distribution and sale of coal

Variations include selling ice to the Eskimos or sand to the Saudis. Here’s not only a newly minted cliché, but also a grand finalist in the already crowded sweepstakes of Maddest Idea Ever in the History of Mad Ideas for UK Energy.

Barack Obama’s climate plan has, not without reason, been hailed by European Greens.

Unfortunately, almost all of the reporting chooses to ignore a fundamental reason why it even came to pass: Abundant and low cost shale gas.

Few in the UK hate shale gas more than the solar subsidy collector, sorry, brave entrepreneur, Jeremy Leggett. In his world, anyone for natural gas is little better than a climate change denier and climate criminal. His praise, as in the BBC or anywhere else, edits out how renewables and abundant natural gas co-exist while almost declaring a Second Coming:

Obama and Pope Francis are among the few individuals with enough power to directly influence humanity’s impact on climate change.